Donald Trump claimed Wednesday he did not see an article in which Boeing's CEO criticized the president-elect's trade agenda before sending a surprise tweet that hit the aerospace giant's stock.

In the Chicago Tribune column published Tuesday morning, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg expressed concerns about resistance to trade, which is partly driven by Trump repeatedly slamming the Trans-Pacific Partnership and North American Free Trade Agreement. Shortly after, Trump threatened on Twitter to "cancel" Boeing's contract for new Air Force One jets, arguing that an unconfirmed $4 billion cost was too high for the project.

Trump has often tweeted in response to news reports in the past, leading to speculation that he had seen the Tribune article. He denied that Wednesday in an interview with NBC's "Today."

"I didn't seen an article where he was critical of trade policies," Trump said.

Boeing fell nearly 2 percent at its lows Tuesday in response to Trump's tweet. It eventually recovered to finish near the flat line Tuesday and traded 0.5 percent higher Wednesday.